ESCUELA SUPERIOR POLITÉCTICA DEL LITORAL

FACULTAD DE INGENIERIA MARÍTIMA Y CIENCIAS DEL MAR

MARINE GEOCHEMISTRY

SUBJECT:

THE CARBON BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE IN THE OCEANS.

STUDENT: MELISSA LIZBETH GÓMEZ TAPIA

GUAYAQUIL-ECUADOR

2021-2022
The biogeochemical carbon cycle in the oceans

The main source of carbon throughout Earth's history has been in the form of carbon dioxide
expelled into the atmosphere by volcanoes. Over time, volcanoes have added −60 x 1015 tons of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and are still adding more tons of carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere 0.04 x 109 tons per year. Oceanic plankton have sequestered the vast majority
(99.5%) of all the carbon ever emitted to the atmosphere by volcanoes, forming sedimentary rocks
and sedimentary organic matter. If there were no oceans to form the sediments, the
concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would be much higher than it is and the
average temperature on Earth would be closer to that found on Venus, which has a high
concentration of carbon dioxide C O 2 and where it is too hot for water to remain liquid. It is
obvious that the processes that control the disposition of gas are vital to understanding the
world's climate system.[ CITATION Rev82 \l 12298 ]

Introduction

Carbon is one of the most essential elements for life on Earth. It is a great challenge for science
worldwide to know all the carbon cycles such as atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial. Carbon in
the ocean is found as dissolved carbon dioxide, bicarbonates and carbonates in the right
proportions so that there is a balance. CO2 is absorbed from the atmosphere, and rivers provide
calcium ions and bicarbonates. [ CITATION Mus \l 12298 ] The ocean plays a very important role in
the reduction of atmospheric CO2 because it absorbs approximately ¼ of the CO2 emitted by
human activities each year to the atmosphere, thanks to this great process that the oceans
perform it is possible to reduce the impacts of global warming but due to the excessive increase in
recent years the ocean has been affected because it has increased its acidification.[ CITATION
NOA08 \l 12298 ] Currently in the ocean, marine phytoplankton contribute 45 giga tons of organic
carbon dioxide per year of which 16 giga tons are exported to the ocean surface, this accumulates
a total of approximately 700 giga tons of organic carbon, this amount is equivalent to the total
CO2 in the atmosphere, if this amount of carbon is oxidized, it would generate more CO2 than
fossil fuels generate in a year. Through photosynthesis, organic carbon is formed in the ocean and
accumulates in it, this process is essential for the ocean to sequester CO2, this process is known as
biological carbon pump, thanks to this, on a global scale the ocean acts as a sink for atmospheric
CO2.[CITATION Ort18 \l 12298 ]

The chemistry of C

The carbon atom (C) has 6 protons and 6 electrons (Z=6). Its electronic configuration is

1 s 2 2 s 2 2 p2 this shows us that in its last shell there are 4 electrons, lacking another 4 to be able to
complete it, then its complete electronic configuration would be: 1 s 2 2 s 2 2 p6. The carbon atom
could gain or lose 4 electrons, for this reason, the C atom must share 4 electrons through covalent
bonds, these bonds can be: single, double or triple.[CITATION Cid \l 12298 ]

Carbon is a very special element because it forms a number of compounds greater than the sum
total of all the other elements combined. It has one of the largest groups along with hydrogen, it is
estimated that there are 1,00,000 organic compounds and this number increases with the passage
of time. It also forms a number of inorganic compounds, but in less quantity than the organic ones.
Carbon alone, chemically formed by the decomposition of sucrose in the absence of air, its
physical and chemical properties depend on its crystalline structure. Carbon in elemental form is
considered to be an inert substance, not soluble in water, acids or bases; at very high
temperatures it combines with oxygen (O) to form carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2)

and carbon dioxide (CO ¿¿ 2)¿ o Carbon suboxide (C ¿ ¿ 3O 2 )¿ . Carbon compounds are found in
nature, it is estimated that carbon constitutes 0.032% of the earth's crust, in the atmosphere is
present 0.03% by volume as carbon dioxide. In nature, carbon plays an important role since plants
and animals are formed by organic compounds where carbon is combined with other elements
such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, among others. [ CITATION Len17 \l 12298 ]

Main C compounds in the atmosphere and oceans (gas and dissolved phase)

The composition of the atmosphere is mainly given by nitrogen (N) in ̴78%, oxygen (O) in 2̴ 1%,

argon (Ar) in 1̴ % and other elements / compounds in smaller quantities. Carbon dioxide (CO 2) It
only forms ̴0.038% of the total atmosphere in units of (380 ppm or µatm). The solubility of carbon
dioxide (CO 2) is greater than that of nitrogen (N) in seawater, this is because carbon dioxide
reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid in addition to its dissociation products, bicarbonate
and carbonate.[ CITATION Alv07 \l 12298 ]
2−¿ ¿
+¿ +C O ¿
−¿↔2 H 3
¿
+¿+HC O3 ¿
C O 2 ( gas ) + H 2 O ↔ H 2 C O 3 ↔ H (1)

Total inorganic carbon dioxide is the sum of all the concentrations of all the chemical species

dissolved carbon dioxide. TC O 3=[ C O 2 ] + [ H 2 C O 3 ] +¿ This is expressed in millimoles per

kilogram or liter of seawater. The C O 2 cAs a dissolved gas in seawater, it is found in very low
amounts, to be specific (~ 0.23 ml l-1), this does not even reach 2% of TCO2, the reason for this is
due to the reaction of seawater with carbon dioxide, as in reaction 1 and the pH level of seawater.
Bicarbonate is the most abundant compound and is consumed due to photosynthesis. With
increasing temperature, pressure and salinity, the solubility of gases decreases, when carbon
dioxide is consumed due to photosynthesis or leakage into the atmosphere, the concentration of
+¿¿
bicarbonate decreases. H decreases and this causes the pH to increase, whereas, when carbon
+¿¿
dioxide increases, either by respiration or some external input, the concentration of H
increases and pH decreases.[ CITATION Lib92 \l 12298 ]

The main elements that make up seawater are: Chlorine (Cl), Sodium (Na), Magnesium (Mg),
Sulfur (S), Calcium (Ca) and Potassium (K) and we also find gases that are in the atmosphere, such
as: Nitrogen, Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. Carbon dioxide, when dissolved in seawater, forms
carbonic acid.[ CITATION Hal18 \l 12298 ]

Sources and sinks of C in the oceans

Carbon sinks are natural and artificial reservoirs that absorb and capture carbon dioxide CO2 from
the atmosphere in order to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air. The oceans are
the main natural carbon sinks, because the oceans are capable of absorbing approximately 50% of
the carbon in the atmosphere, but those who are responsible for this are the plankton, corals, fish,
algae and some bacteria that are photosynthetic, these are the organisms responsible for carbon
sequestration in the oceans. The problem of carbon sinks is that due to the excess of carbon this
can cause acidification in the oceans, causing a decrease in pH and this is due to excess absorption
of carbon dioxide (CO2), this acidification causes problems in the carbon sinks, as it negatively
impacts the corals, algae, shellfish, mollusks, which are getting sick until they die.[ CITATION
Sos17 \l 12298 ]

In the ocean we can find a large amount of dissolved organic carbon called DOC, which is part of
many organic compounds such as proteins, carbohydrates, among others, which have many years
and travel in masses of water. This carbon material is found in the sea due to the activity of marine
organisms, especially the smaller ones. When carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans,
phytoplankton consume it for photosynthesis, just as it happens in the terrestrial environment.
[CITATION 1Mª04 \l 12298 ] The carbon from this carbon dioxide becomes an organic compound,
some of it will be used to build phytoplankton cell structures and some of it will be waste in the
marine environment. This waste or marine material that is discarded serves as food for bacteria
but most of it will be converted back to CO2 and return to the atmosphere.[ CITATION Han15 \l
12298 ]

Temporal and spatial distribution (horizontal / vertical)

Picture1. Simmon R. 2008. The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in ocean water.
Recovered from: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/OceanCarbon

[ CITATION Rob08 \l 12298 ]

In this image we can see that the concentration of CO2 in the ocean water is on the (y-axis) and as
can be seen it depends on the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere which in the graph represents
the shaded curves and depends on the temperature of the water which is the (x-axis). This small
graph shows that as atmospheric CO2 increases, pre-industrial levels increase (blue shading) to
twice the pre-industrial amounts (light green shading), the concentration of CO2 in the ocean
increases. As water temperature increases, its ability to dissolve CO2 decreases. [ CITATION Rie08
\l 12298 ]

Internal processes (cycling)

Carbon dioxide is a very important greenhouse gas, the amount of which in the atmosphere is
controlled by the carbon cycle. The first component of the carbon cycle is photosynthesis and
respiration by plants, which is given by the following equation:

C O2 + H 2 O+ energy ↔C H 2 O ( carbo h ydrate ) +O2 (2)

Photosynthesis occurs when plants during the day use the energy emitted by the sun to convert
atmospheric CO2 plus water into carbohydrate and oxygen, while at night the opposite happens,
this process is called respiration. They use carbohydrate plus oxygen to produce energy in the
absence of the Sun. This is exactly what animals and humans do. When plants or organic material
are burned, the reaction goes to the left, they use oxygen and release CO2, whereas, if organic
matter is deposited in sediments, CO2 is stored in the atmosphere.[ CITATION MEL09 \l 12298 ]

Another process is one called the Rapid Ocean Process, which is the second component of the
carbon cycle. The chemistry of the surface layer of the ocean is well mixed with the atmosphere
and for this reason CO2 is constantly consumed and released by the ocean, this causes cycling. It
can be said that there is a balance between the amount that is consumed and released, because of
this there are two processes that store CO2 in the ocean, one is a chemical process where
bicarbonate is formed, CO2 is combined with a carbonate ion: [CITATION Aci12 \l 12298 ]

C O 2 +C O 32−¿ ( carbonate) +H O ↔2 HC O3(bicarbonate)¿

2
(3)

The ocean is responsible for regulating the CO2 emitted by humans into the atmosphere, but not
enough to reduce all the CO2 that humans cause.

Another process where the oceans consume CO2 is through plankton called combustion, which
photosynthesizes in a way that uses CO2. When the plankton dies, it falls to the bottom of the
ocean and proceeds to decompose, the CO2 in the plankton dissolves with water that does not
combine with the atmosphere. A small part of organic matter is on the seafloor.[ CITATION
Gre01 \l 12298 ]

Annual Ocean Carbon Budgets

Currently in the ocean, marine phytoplankton contributes 45 gigatons of organic carbon dioxide
per year of which 16 gigatons are exported to the surface of the ocean, this accumulates an
approximate total of 700 gigatons of organic carbon, this amount is equivalent to the total CO2 in
the atmosphere, if this amount of carbon were oxidized, it would generate more CO2 than fossil
fuels generate in a year. Through photosynthesis, organic carbon is formed in the ocean and this
accumulates in it, this process is essential for the ocean to sequester CO2, this process is known as
a biological carbon bomb, thanks to this, on a global scale the ocean acts as a sink for atmospheric
CO2. (Harrould-Kolieb & Savitz, 2009)

de 2 °C.[CITATION Cor21 \l 12298 ]

Discussion

The use of renewable energies is necessary to curb climate change. The oceans are affected by the
excess of CO2 produced by human activities and, being a sink for this, marine life is greatly
affected. The excess of CO2 is linked to climate change and the oceans are the ones that try to
prevent this from happening, but there is a limit and as a result of this excess, the acidity and
temperature of the ocean is increasing, if there is no change, in a few years that temperature and
acidity will not only be superficial, but also affect the seabed, causing damage to species and
habitats.

Conclusion

The key to reducing climate change is the ocean's absorption of carbon dioxide. Due to human
activities, the carbon cycle is being altered in its waters and this could reverse the main function of
the ocean, which is to regulate the climate, becoming another element of global warming. The
alterations caused by the increase of carbon in its cycle, is that thanks to the excess of CO2
absorbed by the oceans, the acidity of the oceans is increasing and this is detrimental to marine
life and carbon sinks that are phytoplankton, algae and other marine bacteria, also thanks to the
increase in temperature and acidity of the oceans, corals bleach and the great barrier reef begins
to diminish..[ CITATION Viñ19 \l 12298 ]

Opinión personal

The human being thanks to its human activities is causing the increase of CO2, as previously
mentioned that is detrimental to the different cycles that occur in the ocean. The ocean is a great
carbon sink, but if we continue with the same activities, this will be affected and we will cause the
pH of the ocean to be altered causing damage to marine life. It is necessary to generate changes to
stop this increase, currently some artificial sinks are known, but this does not combat the increase
of CO2 due to human activities. Carbon sinks are a great help to curb climate change, but they do
not really solve it, for this to happen it is necessary to use renewable energies and leave aside the
dependence on fossil fuels.

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